How Mr T went from a hero to an absolute failure trying to be funny

I love Mr T. I really do. The man has passed sixty years of age, but will always be remember as the BAMF B.A. Baracus from The A-Team. He also had a great role in Rocky III as Clubber Lang. So where do you go from there? In Mr T's case, downhill. The next show he was in was T and T, which didn't come anywhere close to The A-Team. After that, it's further downhill than the Grand Canyon with voice acting in kid's shows.

BUT THEN. He started doing what made me write this blogpost about the fallen hero. He did an infomercial. I don't know what the 'T' in Mr. T means*, but I'm pretty sure it's not Turbo.

*I actually do know, it's Tureaud

I lost faith in the very first minute. Not really because of what he does, but because of the audience. Mr. T comes in by breaking down the door, in true action hero fashion. Then the camera shows the audience, resulting in this shot.

The old lady and middle aged loser immediately jump up. Yes Mr. T, this is your audience now. As Millward Brown established, humour in advertising is effective as long as it's understood. And you know, actually funny. Unlike this commercial. This infomercial is compiled of bad jokes told badly, terrible audience ooh's and aah's and way too much eye contact. At one point he even tells boys and girls to always eat their veggies.

Because I don't want you to stop liking me, the video I added isn't the full 15 minute infomercial. But yes, the original is fifteen minutes long. The video below are the highlights, which basically means: The least bad parts.

Come on Mr. T, you're better than this. Fool.